Beckenbauer hails Beckham as new Kaiser Chief

Real’s clash with Bayern on Tuesday is rich in history, as Franz Beckenbauer knows all too well

Mischief seldom needs a second invitation into the preambles for Real Madrid against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, and, sure enough, even the distinguished president of the German club was happy to open the mind games.

"From what I read, Madrid have a lot of problems," noted Franz Beckenbauer. "I think we must be the favourites." Must be? From what Madridistas might read in their papers, or glimpse as they scrutinise the Bundesliga table, Tuesday's visitors to the Bernabeu have plenty of difficulties of their own.

Madrid against Bayern will never be anything but heavy-weight, but this meeting of Spain and Germany's preeminents is a match between fourth place in the Bundesliga and third in La Liga, at least as they were going into the weekend. They bear similar symptoms of disorder, an anxiety always likely to turn mind games into something rather less cerebral. With Madrid-Bayern, they tend